Bound by a death sentence in a virtual world with rigid moral laws, Jack is determined to find a way out of his prison, even with the impossible mission ahead of him.

With an oath to a stranger he saved, Jack’s quest has found him both a place in this world and a target on his back.

My Opinion: 36 pages, $0.99, Not available on Kindle Unlimited

A short story with intentionally minimal game references. Jack is sentenced to 365 days in a virtual prison, called Voslorth, for not being productive enough at work. If he can’t earn a huge sum of money in game before that time is up, he’ll be executed.

Once he logs into Voslorth, he gets his equipment, learns the ropes of his class and kills some bad guys.

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This is such a short story that I can’t talk much about the plot without spoiling things. However, I can say I didn’t like the first 30% of the story but it got better and won me over by the end.

I really didn’t like the odd future world that incarcerates the MC for not being productive at work and orders him to pay alot of money in game of face executed (25-32%). But I suppose I’m not supposed to like that kind of future. The author is likely setting that world up as a big villain in future stories.

The world of Voslorth is an intentionally minimalist game world - No status windows, stats, character sheets. No numbers. The few game mechanics in the story (Inventory system 8-9%, loot from kills, grouping mechanics 23-24%, and Stealth mechanics 66%) are described by the characters conversationally. While I understand that it’s an author's right to decide how game-like he wants his world to be, the story sometimes feels more like a fantasy world with occasional game references.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this short story. The story is entertaining and won me over after the 30% mark. The combat and stealth mechanics in the story reminded me of the Thief games or Assasin’s Creed. Sure, I would have loved to have gotten more details about the game mechanics of the world but I respect the author’s choice to emphasis the role playing over the game part of RPG.